Caught in the Crossfire
by Personification of Fluff
Summary: This story takes place in the time XM2 spoilers: fill this in yourself until they get contacted by the Professor. How do the students cope and deal? Read to find out! A Kiotr fic! Finished!
1. Night

Warning! Does contain some spoilers to X-Men 2!

  
  


Disclaimer: Do you really think I own X-Men? If I did, I would have made sure that Colossus had a Russian accent, dammit! ^_^ And made him run around for a good TEN minutes instead of... well, I haven't been able to thus far read my watch in a theatre and actually time it.

  
  


Author's Note: There's Kitty. There's Colossus. They are one of my favourite couples. How could I have NOT written a fic for them in the movie? This takes place over the two days the "X-kids" have in the mansion, and some of the stuff which may or may not have happened. Those of you who ask yourselves, 'What? She's so crazy about the accents in the movie -or lack thereof- she doesn't even bother to write them in?' are correct. I didn't write any accents in because: A) I'm not sure who has them, B) I'm not sure how to write them because I don't know how they sound and C) do you know how long it takes to write in accents??! 

Enjoy! 

  
  


Chapter One: Night

  
  


Katherine's head fell into her hands, as her body sank beneath a large tree. She wanted to slam her head against the thick trunk, but she knew that it wouldn't do any good. Hurting yourself just because of some silly emotions was ridiculous. Also, it wouldn't do any good because she doubted she would be able to concentrate hard enough to keep her from phasing through the tree.

A crack of a branch alerted her to the danger. She spun, already changing her body into a more ethereal state. These mean were everywhere! She dove through the tree, and kept running.

Her hazel eyes were so wide that white showed all around. She didn't stop running. She phased through the large gate, unnoticed by the men, but she watched them. There were so many! They were like insignificant insects, crawling up and over the stone wall that was supposed to protect them all. 

Climbing a tree, ignoring the sharp ends of the wooden plant ripping her night gown or poking her skin, she watched, horrified. The men with the green painted faces, the horrible guns, and the stark black clothing swarmed on the lawn, all of the heading towards the mansion, as if perfectly timed. The flashlights they held danced in the night, both outside and inside the house. It seemed that Siren's scream still hung in the air, making her ears ring.

Time seemed to stand still as she stared. More and more of them kept coming! Where did they all come from? 

What if one of them caught her? What if they saw her and shot her in the tree, and she lost unconsciousness and broke her neck as she fell? Kitty Pryde had never been so scared in all her life. Her young body was shivering from the fear, her teeth from the cold. This awful night was making the day she'd discovered her mutant powers look like a walk in the park.

Her sharp mind finally seized control of her shocked body. Quivering like a leaf was not going to do anything. Fear never did any good; it was as useless as slamming her head into a tree. There were people in there; there were her friends in that building! If she felt bad now, imagine how bad she would feel if Bobby or Rogue were captured, if Jubilee was stabbed in the neck by those horrid devices? These fellow mutants were her friends, and she was not going to let them be captured!

Floating down from the tree, she tried to formulate a plan. She didn't have a weapon; so attack was really out of the question. She could try and take someone's gun and use it on the other men in black, but that was really risky. What if she was overpowered or shot before she could defend herself? Kitty knew she was good with computers, but she didn't know if she would be able how to figure out a gun she didn't even knew existed. She doubted it was as easy to use as the ones in 007.

As far as Kitty knew she had only one course to take. She was a mutant, and she would use her powers to the best of her growing ability! Her powers were ones of mainly self defence: the ability to spread out her atoms or whatnot and walk between individual molecules, or whatnot. It would take a lot of concentration -more than what she'd ever used before in class- but she was fairly certain she could extend the powers to include someone she was touching.

It didn't, of course, cross Kitty's mind that this was probably just as reckless as the idea as charging someone for a weapon she might not be able to use. All she knew was that she was going to be an X-Man someday, which meant that she was going to be a hero, and heroes did not run away like scared little fourteen year old girls.

Even if that was what they were.

All she had to do was run across the field that was swarming with government agents from God knew where, and phase not only back into the house, but somehow manage to avoid getting caught, get her friends out, all while worrying about the fact that she could only phase as long as she could hold her breath.

It was quite a lot for a fourteen year old girl to handle.

Kitty made into back unto the field before she heard the chopter. Returning to her normal state, she stopped and began to look around for it. No one ever said that geniuses were actually smart. Katherine began to run to the house, her lungs beginning to burn and her adrenaline rush beginning exhaust itself. She phased through a wall, and found herself face to backside with one of the government agents. 

Phasing through the floor, she went by unnoticed, only to hang in the air of the basement level, another man in black and green face paint only a hair's breath from reaching the hem of her skirt. If he reached up to scratch his head. . . .

Carefully, she managed to float behind the man. Kitty took another deep breath, and phased to the second bottom level, although she had been told not to many times over by the Professor. Just because she could didn't mean she should, but in this case she figured he would make an exception. 

Katherine found herself in a long hallway of blue walls and white lights. Or at least that was what it looked like. It was so bright in the second bottom level, after being outside and in the sleeping mansion, that it could very well have been white walls and blue lights and she would not have been able to tell the difference.

'Surprise, surprise,' she grimly told herself, hiding down a corridor. 'The G. I. Joe wannabees are down here too. They better not be crawling around the bedrooms like this. The Professor's gonna be mad enough as it is that they came down here and broke into his mansion, but Illyana's gonna have a fit if they ate all her chocolate!'

Footsteps began to grow loud. She daringly snuck a little closer to the bright lights of the hidden X-Men base. She could see some sort of mechanical device her fingers itched to play with, but she concentrated on the men. One of them was rather short, about as tall as Wolverine, she'd say, but was comically fat around the middle. The other was indistinguishable: just another military man trying to be a big shot.

"We managed to capture a few," the military man said. "The rest managed to escape through a series of tunnels that weren't in our schematics."

Her eyes widened. Of course! The tunnels! Why hadn't she thought of that? Of course they'd try to escape? But how many was a few? She balled her fists, shaking them at the man. "C'mon!" she hissed. "Names! Give me names! Numbers! Anything!"

"I see. And how many is a few?" the fatter man asked. Katherine could have hugged him at that moment.

"Six, sir."

She was ecstatic. Six! Only six of them had been captured? A raid in the middle of the night, most of the targets younger children, all of them with largely undeveloped mutant powers, against men trained since they were as old as she and armed with tranquillizer darts and only six of them had been taken? That was astonishing!

Katherine wanted to stay and hear more, but she knew that time was of the essence. If her new family had managed to escape from the building and into the underground tunnel system, then they were probably still on the move. Katherine didn't know if she'd be able to find them once they got too far. 

Pausing, she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her body down. She was happy and tired all at the same time. She'd only gotten a few hours of sleep when she'd been so rudely interrupted by kidnapping thieves, her bottom was low on food and energy, and she couldn't remember using her powers so much in such a short period of time.

'Come on, kiddo,' she encouraged herself. 'You wanna be an X-Men, right? This is your training for it. Your friends are out there, and if you wanna lick these people then we X-Kids have got to stick together! Ready? Okay. . . .'

Her grand exit was paused. The really nifty looking machine was making sounds! It was pointed out some type of door, although it was the oddest looking door Katherine had ever seen. It looked like something that could have been out of The Lord of the Rings, if hobbits had used shiny blue glass pieces and reflective metal for their doorways, that is. 

It whirled, and twirled, and the fat man smiled. She couldn't see his face, but Kitty was sure it was the kind of evil, bag guy smile reminiscent of Jafar's from Aladdin, and the only reason she knew he was smiling was that his whole being seemed to suddenly be not quite so melancholy.

The man said only one word: "Cerebro."

Kitty phased through a wall, making her way to the tunnels in a series of zig-zag movements, keeping her eyes open for more of the men in the green face paint. Cerebro? What the heck was Cerebro? Sure, it sounded a lot like a mis-pronunciation of Cerberus from the stories of the underworld, but she doubted the Professor was keeping a dog -let alone a three headed dog- in the X-Men training ground. If that was what they were trying to reach though, it must be pretty important.

  
  


[Some time later. . . .]

  
  


Emerging from the tunnel system, she rubbed her stomach, which was growling. Annoyingly, it was growling without stopping. Katherine tried to remember when she had last eaten. She remembered it had been pizza, and that she hadn't gotten a lot of it. A houseful of teenagers and children; nobody had really gotten a lot. But they didn't get pizza often, and given how many hugs Wolverine had received after allowing them to order pizza, it would be a long time before he did it again.

Rubbing her eyes, she covered a yawn with the other hand. Oh, she'd kill to get her toothbrush back. Or have a shower. Or to get some more sleep!

"Freeze!" somebody shouted. 

Doing so, she pursed her lips, trying to pin a name to the voice. Finding it, she rolled her eyes. "Alex Summers, relax! I'm not going to do anything to hurt you, unless you try and shot one of your solar ray crappy attacks or whatever at me, in which case I swear I'll... I'll plant a bug in your computer and hide your surf board where even you can't find it!"

Alex's bleach blonde head popped out of a nearby bush, leaves sticking out of his hair like porcupine quills. "Okay! Fine! Whatever! We just wanted to make sure that you weren't one of them." His face took on a rather concerned expression, nodding back at the house. 

"Do I look like a six foot tall man covered in war paint, black clothing, totting around a gun that shoots tranquilliser darts like an automatic riffle? No? Good. I didn't think so." Katherine smiled to show there were no hard feelings and slapped him heartily on the back. "Okay, so you're guarding the exit from the mansion, but where's everybody else? I'd heard everybody else came this way."

Alex nervously looked at the tunnel entrance, then at Kitty, who tapped her foot. He sighed and hacked his way out of the bush. "I'll take you to them," he sighed. "I'm not supposed to leave the door, in case they come up after us. But knowing you, you'll start threatening me again. What's the matter, Kitty? Didn't get all your math homework done? I was going to send out a flare in anything happened."

"Who put you up to that hairball scheme?" she demanded, thinking it sounded like a death wish if she'd ever heard one.

"I volunteered." He smirked, and Kitty felt herself smile in return. She'd missed these guys, even though she'd been away from them for a little under an hour. "How'd you get out? Siren woke me up."

"Light. It shone right in my eyes. I'm surprised I wasn't blinded by it." She began to turn red, as if embarrassed that she had used her powers to escape the midnight raid. "Then I phased out. So. . . ."

He stopped and pointed. "It's right ahead. They've got a small fire going, but none of us really feel like sleeping. I'm going back to the entrance. If they find anything to eat, can you send some my way?"

"Uh-huh." She nodded and thanked Havoc for helping her. Kitty doubted she would have been able to find the other X-kids, as they were lovingly called by some, on her own. There was too much open land. They could have been anywhere.

Pushing by some cedar bushed, Katherine suddenly screamed, her cry cut off as she shut her eyes and made herself phase as quickly as she could. Opening them, she saw the metal arm sticking into her sternum and out the other side. Lifting her face, she glared at Colossus, though it took quite some effort.

The large Russian man extracted his arm and shifted back into his human form. She was amused to see he was blushing and felt herself begin to do the same. "Sorry, Katya," he apologized in his thick Russian accent. 

Kitty felt herself beginning to feel light-headed. 

He ran a hand through hair as dark as the coal he sometimes sketched with, blue eyes staring down at her. "I thought you might have been the enemy." Peter nervously looked around. When he saw that nobody was around, he tousled her hair as he would have his little sister's. "Although, I must admit it is good to see you are not an enemy, Katya. It is better to see you have not been captured."

She felt a sudden sense of relief wash over her. Katherine had never realized what would have happened if Peter had been one of the six captured. Her fatigue threw itself upon her again, so when she threw her arms around Peter, it was so much a hug as it was a hug and a near collapse. Her eyes began to water, and she sniffled loudly. When his arm wrapped around her, she felt all the fear her body had begun to remember, vanish. Kitty took a deep breath. He smelled like acrylic paints. No doubt he'd been up late, painting.

Eventually, she spoke. "It's nice to see that you weren't captured either."

A moment later her mind took control over her heart, and she let go of him. Blushing deeper than she had with Havoc, Kathetrine reminded herself she was fourteen years old, one of the older X-kids. Standing in a business-like manner, she asked, "Who else is missing?"

"Jubilee, Bobby, Rogue, John, Lance, Wolverine, Sam. . . ."

One of the other kids popped out of the bush behind Colossus, interrupting the older boy. His young face was taught and bitter. Pietro Maximoff's voice made her shiver. "Wolverine's missing. They got an adult X-Man! Don't you see? We're done for! They're going to come and grab us and stick us into tiny little cubicles where we get stuck with needles and put into excruciating tests on a daily basis! That is, if they don't flat out kill us. How do we know that those guns weren't filled with poison?"

Behind Colossus, there was a whimper. He briefly glared at Pietro, then went to the sound. Katherine followed him. The other kids had made a small fire -Kitty couldn't even guess as to how- and had pulled up logs around the fire. Standing by the edge, she watched as Peter gently picked up his little sister, and began to stroke her hair.

"Will you give it up?" he demanded in a hushed whisper. "You're scaring the other students."

"Yeah, well, they all should be scared! Because we're all going to die!" At his harsh tone, several of the students whimpered or curled up into tighter balls. He caught Colossus' even heavier glare, and rolled his eyes. "Don't say anything, you dead weight. I'm going to go for a walk. At least I can outrun the guys in the guns." He took off, dirt kicking up in his trail.

"He's right," came a voice from beyond the dim firelight. Katherine couldn't recognize it; it must have been one of the new kids. "How do we know the guns weren't poisonous? Siren got it. Maybe she's gonna die. . . ."

"Siren is not going to die," Peter sternly replied. "She's only sleeping. Right now she's having wonderful dreams of gum drop lane and other such childish things. Perhaps you should try to do the same."

Katherine nodded. "And he wasn't right about Wolverine, either." She felt rather exposed and clutched the neck of her nightgown. "The Professor told us about his healing factor? Those of you who weren't here last year missed it, but we actually saw it in work. Rogue took it to heal the wounds Wolverine had... accidentally... given her. It might work on tranquillisers, too. You know, cleansing the blood stream. If that's true, then he got out alive. It's Wolverine! You've all heard the Ellis Island stories. And Wolverine wouldn't leave without Rogue, with all they've already been through together. . . ."

"And Rogue wouldn't leave without Bobby," Peter finished, "with all they're going to be through. That means that there are still three other X-Men out there."

Spyke's dark eyes sparkled in the light. "Aunt Ororo's out there too, with Professor Jean, on an errand for Professor Xavier. Don't forget that the Professor himself is out there somewhere, with Cyclops. If the X-Men are out there, then we really don't have anything to worry about." Voices stirred around the campfire, echoing agreements. They had found a wisp of hope and they were going to clutch to it until it cut them.

Full of doubt, the unidentifiable voice from earlier spoke out again. "But what are we going to do until they come back? We don't know how long they're planning on being out. Remember how long Wolverine was out before? What are we going to do until then? It's not like we can go back to the mansion. . . ."

"Yes, we can," Kitty said before she knew what she was saying. Even Peter looked rather doubtful. She pressed on. "They were looking for something called Cerebro, and they wanted to capture mutants. Whether we like it or not, they have both. That having been completed, they have no reason left to stay at the mansion. They'll be gone sooner or later, and I suspect sooner rather than later. When they're gone, we can go back. We're young, but we're powerful. We're mutants. We can start to rebuild the school while we wait for the others to come home; while we wait for the Professor to contact us.

"We may look like little children to the eyes of the adults, but we aren't. Well, we are, but we're so much more! We have endless energy. We all got how many hours of sleep, and we're still up, when we could have fallen asleep while we were running. We're strong, because we have each other: people we learn with and train with almost everyday. We're determined. Isn't that what one of the thing of being a mutant taught us? To always work at expanding and controlling our powers? What's that really but having a goal and constantly striving to obtain it? Lastly, we're brave. So what if we ran from them? They were cowardly, adult men going against people half their size and three quarters their age! The point is that we'll turn around and face them. The monster under the bed may scare us at first, but we'll look under the bed to prove there's nothing to be afraid of."

"I'm hungry," Illyana whimpered. She rubbed her runny nose and buried her face into her brother's shoulder. Held in the arms of her tall brother and wrapped in the blanket from a bed, she looked really small.

Peter continued stroking her head. "I know. We're all tired and hungry. Everybody get to bed. Alex and I will awaken you if anything goes wrong. Before you know it, it will be tomorrow morning and we can head back to the mansion for Saturday morning cartoons."

Grumbling, yawning, and nodding, the kids settled down again. Katherine watched as Peter put his sister down on the ground beside Siren, who was still sleeping. They both looked like little angels. She followed him to an unoccupied stump, and sat down beside him. Kitty reached out and touched his arm gently. "Are you really planning on staying up alright? Aren't you going to get any sleep?"

"Nyet. Ah, no, Katya. I told them that I would stay up, and I will. It's not like I haven't pulled all-nighters before. Except last time I also had caffeine. Your speech. . . ." He seemed to turn red, but he smiled and continued, pushing his emotion away. That was usually a difficult task for Peter. "Your speech was motivated, but it didn't remove all my doubts. They wanted mutants, and they have six. As you said, they are cowards. They may not be satisfied with six mutants."

He paused. "Have you thought about going into politics or something, Katya? You speak quite well. Myself, I'd like to teach art, but I might end up getting you to write my lectures for me."

Katherine grinned, then covered a yawn with her hand. He suggested she catch some sleep, but Kitty refused. "If you're not going to sleep, then I'm not either." She paused. "Ah, thank you, though, Peter."

Her hair fell over her shoulder, and the firelight flickered over her face. Peter saw her shiver, and he wrapped a large arm over her shoulder, drawing her close. Some of the kids were sharing blankets, but the older students had refused them. They could deal with and get over a cold sooner than the younger children. She looked so pretty to him, just now. His fingertips began to itch for his art supplies, wishing he could draw her, just as she was at that moment. Just as he was contemplating working up the courage to give Katherine a peck on the cheek, she repeated a question for the third time.

"I asked you if you knew what Cerebro was. If we knew what this Cerebro is, then maybe we could figure out why they would want it."

"Sorry, tovarisch. I don't know what this Cerebro is. Perhaps when Storm and Jean get back, they may be able to suggest possible reason as to why. Myself, I am more interested in knowing how it was there, or that the Xavier Institute was actually a school made entirely of mutants."

Neither or spoke for what seemed like a very long time. They focussed on the fire, watching it slowly die out. Eventually, Pietro came back and curled up in a corner with some of his friends. Havok also returned, all but dragging himself. He just fell to the ground, already snoring. 

Peter pulled Katherine a little closer, leaning their heads together. They were both so comfortable, they worried about falling asleep, but both of them were so determined to stay awake and protect their friends they remained wide awake. "Katya?" he whispered when the stars were at their brightest.

"Yeah?" she asked, her voice quieter than a cat's footsteps. 

"I truly am most relieved to see that you're safe and sound."

"Are you trying to make small talk, Peter?"

"Nyet."

"Well in that case, I'm glad you're here too."


	2. Cleaning

Author's Notes: Yeah! I loved your reviews! Thank you so much for taking the time to read it. And I will read My P.O.V. although probably not for thirteen weeks or so do to a lack of inter net! (I'm uploading this at school, so once school's over I have no idea what I'm going to over the summer time until I head to University where I can have internet in my freaking bedroom!! Yeah reading happy sappy fanfics late at night so I can go to bed with a smile on my face!) I hope you enjoy, and huzzah for spell checking at 11:30 at night!!

  
  
  
  
  
  


Chapter Two: Cleaning

  
  


"Okay, Pietro," Peter said to the slightly younger boy. "It's your turn."

Pietro gave him a two fingered salute and then sped off, leaving the other students to sit and wait patiently. Luckily, since it was Quicksilver, they didn't have to wait very long before he showed up again. "The mansion looks exactly as we left it. There aren't any lights on, the television's still going, and there aren't any men around the perimeter of the school or inside as fas as I could tell."

The large Russian nodded. "Alright then, Katya, you're up next." He bent down and picked up Illyana, placing her on his shoulder where she was comfortable, but teetering none the less. Siren, having woken up with the others at the crack of dawn, clung to his hand. Peter gazed down at Katherine, his blue eyes concerned. "Are you two sure you can do this?"

Somewhat hesitant, she nodded. Katherine rubbed her hands, which were cold after spending the night awake with Peter, trying to form a plan to take their mansion. She took a deep breath and nodded again, shifting her shoeless feet against the stony ground. "I'm pretty sure I can do this. Pietro just has to remember that I need to stop and take a deep breath every few hallways. Are you certain you can carry me?"

"As long as you didn't put on weight since the last time I carried you. In case you didn't notice, Kitty, I'm not exactly built like Captain Vodka over there." He smirked and gestured to Peter.

Both of them frowned at him. Katherine glanced up at him worriedly. "And you'll be right behind us?" He nodded, and she felt a little bit better.

Climbing unto Quicksilver's back, she ignored his wisecracks about her weight. He took off, and she felt like her stomach was halfway around the world. The wind rushed around them, tearing at her nightgown and at her hair. Oh, she was going to have a hell of the time combing her hair. She clung to him tightly, terrified at the speed they were travelling at. "How in the world do you move around like this," she shouted, trying to be heard over the wind.

Though it seemed like they had just started, they'd reached the stairs going up. He stopped and put her down. "You're right beside my hear, Kitty cat. I don't think yelling is necessary unless you wanted to be vindictive and make me deaf at an early age. You're walking this part on your own. I hate to think of what might happen if I tripped carrying you at a speed like that." He paused and began to climb the stairs going at normal, regular speed. Pietro glanced at her from the corner of his eyes with a wicked smile. "By the way, your breath smells."

"Well yours isn't morning fresh either. You have a bit of salad stuck between your two front teeth," she grumpily said. Kitty almost laughed when Pietro actually checked. Rolling her hazel eyes, she slapped him on the back. "Man, your more gullible about your looks than most of the girls here! We had pizza last night, remember? But, oh, I'm going to kiss my toothbrush when I see it again. I'd kill for some gum!"

"You might just get your wish, Kitty," Pietro grimly said. He bent down and let Kitty climb unto his back again, as it was the easiest way to get around at 'Quicksilver' speed.

Nervous, she chewed on the inside of her bottom lip. Hidden inside the mansion's secret tunnels, she felt even colder than she had under the stars last night. "You know," she admitted to Pietro, "I've never actually done this before. You've got to give me a second here, to concentrate. Otherwise you'll run into the wall and be completely solid."

"Yeah, and I really don't want a broken nose from a wall. So how will I know when you, you know, do the phasing thing? I don't know if I'll actually be able to tell when my atoms are floating apart from each other more than they already are." Katherine was quiet, and he turned his head enough to see her. For a second he thought that she was sleeping, but then he saw that she'd just closed his eyes to concentrate.

Katherine thought about phasing, as she had learned to do. She felt herself begin to change. In her mind, she imagined her powers flowing down into Quicksilver too, making him intangible. She pictured it looking a lot like a cloud of particles in the air, imagined what it would feel like to be weightless and run all at the same time. . . .

"Uh, Kitty?" 

Pietro's voice snapped her eyes open, and she found him staring down at the ground. They were floating over it, his legs completely useless for running. Katherine went bright pink, and managed to smile. "Oops! I guess I gave it a bit too much!" She eased off her concentration a little bit, and they touched the ground again... then they went through the ground. Katherine swore, and tried again.

"Having trouble?" Pietro teased.

"Bite me. This is a little harder than running, in case you haven't noticed! Now quit your yapping and let me focus, otherwise you'll run all the way down into the basement, and right through that floor too. You feel like being trapped under a mutant school for a while, Pietro? Because if you don't leave me be, that's exactly what will happen!"

Although it took several more tries, Katherine finally had it right. They took off, whipping through doors and hallways, going through every single room in the mansion. Stage one of the plan that Kitty and Peter had come up with last night had been to make sure that there wasn't anyone left to guard the perimeter. Stage two had been to check all the rooms in the house to make sure there wasn't anybody inside the school and the man in black hadn't left any little "gifts" for them in the manner of motion detectors or traps. Unfortunately, the plan required Pietro's help to make it work effectively. The boy had at first been reluctant, but after appealing to his ego, he was more than willing to help.

Eventually, the only floor left to check was the floor they weren't supposed to go into. Katherine floated them down, as they didn't know any other way down. Kitty and Pietro were in awe of the hallways. She touched the walls, standing once again on her own two feet. "When I first came down here, I thought these might have been blue painted walls, but it feels more like they're metal."

"I've never seen anything like this before!" Pietro breathed. Looking around the corner, his jaw dropped. "This place goes on forever! I wonder what's down here. Why are you laughing?"

"Your hair looks blue!" she giggled, pointing. Pietro's white hair had turned blue from the reflection of the walls. Katherine pointed at the door at the end of the hallway. 'There. That's what they were after."

Pietro raced down the hallway, Kitty following him. He pushed the door open. "Whoever they were, they didn't learn their manners. They didn't shut the door after them." He walked inside, neither realizing they were sticking close to the other of them should anything happen. The circular room was so large Pietro couldn't see the bottom when he looked over the edge. His eyes were wide as he tried to take everything in. "What the hell is this room for? It looks like something out of Star Trek!"

"Or a comic book," Kitty agreed. She bent down at the console at the end of the plank. The poor machine had been ransacked. She lifted the bundle of torn wires and fingered the broken chips, wishing she could put the poor machine back together. "I don't know what it's for, but I know what they were after. Look at this, memory drives, power units: they salvaged this machine for parts."

"Parts for what?" Pietro asked, toying with the odd looking helmet. He thought about putting it on, but something told him that wasn't such a good idea.

She copied his smirk almost perfectly. "Isn't it obvious? If I went into your room and stole the games and the memory card for your Playstation, what would that suggest?"

"Well, either that you were pissed off or that you had one yourself and wanted to play. . . ." His eyes widened and he slowly began to nod. He looked around at the massive room again, taking in its scope. "So, the mercs wanted to built themselves one of these funky machines, hm? That still doesn't explain why they wanted to kidnap us students."

"No, but at least it explains something," she said, standing up with a sigh. "I wish I had the expertise to put this machine back together, but that's beyond even my computer skills. Come on. You were right: this place is huge, and we have a lot of rooms to search through." She paused in her speech as they walked back down the plank. "So do you think Cerebro is the name of the machine or the whole room?. . . ."

  
  


[A few minutes later. . . .]

  
  


Opening the door, Katherine smiled and held it open for the other students to enter. She even bowed. "Welcome, one and all, to our once again empty school. Please conduct yourselves in an orderly manner: no pushing or shoving to reach the mirrors, toilets, and showers."

Everybody immediately headed for their rooms, planning on getting some more sleep or to start cleaning up from their unexpected camping trip. They were all silent and pensive, clearly worried about their missing comrades. Judging by their wide eyes and tight lips, she doubted anybody would easily overcome the nightmare they'd only just experienced. Despite her smiles and jokes, Katherine knew she would need a little time before she would stop hearing Siren's scream in her ears, or the sound of gunfire from the floor below her.

Peter, Pietro, Havok, and Kitty all took a seat in the television room. Kitty turned off the television, finding the early morning kid's cartoons disturbing without kids to watch them. Folding her arms, she sat down beside Peter on the love seat. "I hope that Professor Jean gets back soon, or somebody else. We aren't looking so good, Peter."

"What do you mean, Katya?"

"For one," Pietro answered, "there was a pretty nasty looking fight in the kitchen. There's even still some blood on the floor. The lights will need replacing, and a lot of the food was destroyed too. There's bullet holes all over the cupboards, and one in the fridge. Luckily, the food's okay. The tranquillizer thing didn't make it through to the other side, so we still have frozen food. Pop, breakfast cereal, and dishes are another completely story."

"There's blood in the hallways, too. We have to clean them up before some of the younger kids see them." She shuddered. "On the bright side of the kitchen issue, we have one of the darts for examination. We might be able to find something on them. Unfortunately, none of us are good enough with the equipment in the lab to be able to use them to find out what the heck is in the darts."

Peter's head shut up. "What lab? Surely you don't mean the school laboratory! We've been around that equipment for years!"

"Actually, we meant the other lab," Pietro said with a grin.

Alex's grin was reckless as he leaned forward. "What lab? We only have one. Is there a secret lab somewhere?"

Both Kitty and Pietro sheepishly pointed downstairs. Peter groaned and leaned into the couch, hands over his face. Tufts of his black hair stuck between his fingers. "You two both know that we're not allowed down there! Even if the Professors aren't here, we're not supposed to go sneaking around down there!" He sat back up and shook an accusing finger at Pietro. "This is all your fault, isn't it? You must have pressured Katya into taking you down there!"

Katherine blushed. Placing a small hand on his large arm, she brought Peter's arm back down. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "Actually," she admitted. "It was the other way around. See, I figured that if what they wanted was down there, then they might have stayed down there. It's my fault, and I'm sorry, but we had to make certain that there weren't any people down there. Please, don't be mad at me. I didn't mean to make you mad."

He sighed, and tilted her lowered face up. "I could never be mad at you, Katya." He then threw a pillow at Pietro, who was busy making gagging sounds.

Seeing that it was okay to proceed, Havok encouraged Kitty and Pietro to tell them what else was downstairs. "Well," she slowly continued, "there's the lab. There's lots of closets, but they were all empty. There's this really big room called the danger room, and I have no idea what that's for. Oh, and we managed to find Cerebro."

Everyone showed interest on that topic, and she filled Alex in on her excursions into the level of blue hallways the night before, and then she told them of her idea, once again using the Playstation analogy. When she was finished, Peter slammed his fist into the arm chair, swearing in Russian. "If only we knew what the room was for, then we would be able to know more! What's so special about the room that they need to ransack it to built their own? Is there anything else that we should know about?"

"One of the cars is missing," Katherine perkily announced. "Since it's Cyclops', I kinda think. . . ."

"Wolverine," the others chorused.

Peter was quiet a moment. "Okay," he said. "Out of everybody that's left, we're the oldest, and the ones that were here the longest. That means we're going to have to be the most responsible. We're the ones who are going to have to clean up the blood, fix wounds, repair the mansion, and do anything else that needs to be done while our teachers away. We're just going to have to try and act like normal. Nothing's wrong; everything's fine. We just have to wait for the others can get back. Does anybody have any idea as to how to contact the others to tell them what's happened?"

"If Mr. Logan got out, then they might already know. I'm sure that they wouldn't put somebody in charge that didn't know anything about what's going on. Right?" Katherine hoped for an agreement, but didn't receive one. She blew bangs out of her face, and felt a hand cover hers. She smiled up at Peter warmly. "Okay, fine. We're just going to have to start looking for a way, then. A Batphone or something."

"Batphone, Katya?" Peter repeated, confused.

"It's from an old, old television show. But first, I'm in desperate need of coffee. And a shower. And my hair brush. And my toothbrush. And food."

Pietro snickered behind his hand. "I don't think you should drink anything, there, Kitty cat. Caffeine must stunt your growth, you know? And then you'd always get a crick in your neck when you looked at the man you love, staring up at his big, baby blue eyes. 'Oh,' you'll cry. 'You're so much taller than I! I feel as if you could swoop me up into your large, muscular arms and carry me away to a place where we could be together forever. How's Russia this time of year?'" 

He didn't manage to dodge the pillow Kitty threw at him.

  
  


[Three cups of coffee later. . . .]

Katherine rubbed her upset stomach. Maybe Pietro had been right about the caffeine. She stepped out of the shower and wrapped the towel around her wet hair. Getting changed, she stared at herself in the mirror. Had Pietro also been making cracks about her body at the same time? She was only fourteen years old! Fourteen year old girls didn't usually have bodies like Professor Jean or Ororo. 

Beginning to brush her teeth, she was forced to pause and dry her eyes when she started to cry. She couldn't stand being alone. It wasn't just the fear that the men in black might return, but also a fear that if Peter ever figured out how she felt about him. . . . What if he didn't return her feelings? Worse yet, what it was because of the age difference? He was a few years older than her, so what of he wanted somebody a little more developed. . . . Or worse! What if he cared for her like a little sister?

She shoved the horrid thoughts away. There were more important things to think about! She didn't have the time to try and de-tangle her hair, so she put it into a bun, and then set about getting ready for work. 

Filling a bucket with hot, soapy water, she took it to the long hallway by the kitchen, and put on Spyke's knee pads, which the fool hearty boy no longer used. She brushed water off of her scrub brush and began to scrub away at the floors. "If you're going to do a job," you might as well do it good!" she told herself. Before she knew it, she began to hum along to the music that filled the house, Tchaikovsky coming from the kitchen where Peter was beginning to clean, and a nameless alternative tune coming from Spyke's room. It created a haunting, upbeat tune. "Only in this house. . . ."

"Kitty?" Siren sat down on the steps beside Katherine. When she saw she had Katherine's attention, she held out her math textbook. "Can you help me with my homework?"

"You're doing your homework?" she asked, stopping her floor scrubbing to talk to the younger girl.

Nodding, she explained, "Alex said that this wasn't a vacation, and that we should go on trying to do our work as best as possible, until Peter has the kitchen cleaned up and we can all eat. Is he going to be done soon? I'm hungry."

"Everybody's hungry, sweetie," Katherine chuckled, drying her hands off on her old shirt. "I'm sure that Peter will be done soon. I know you'll be able to wait for him, though, because you're a brave kid. And look at what a good student you are too, doing your homework without being told! In fact, homework's wonderful. There's some of Mr. Scott Summers in Alex yet, I do believe. Now, let me see the math book, if you don't mind."

She sat down beside Siren on the steps, and nodded. "Ah. I see. Subtraction. Yes, it always confused me when I was your age, but once you understand it, it's really easy."

In no time at all, Katherine found herself caught in a childish hug as she was thanked for all her help. Katherine watched her fellow student retreat, her grin stretching from ear to ear. She looked at the bucket, and found Colossus standing over it. Kitty was so startled she could have fallen off the step. Luckily, she didn't. Her face went bright red, as it usually did when Peter was around. "How long were you there?"

"Long enough," he chuckled. "The kitchen is done being cleaned. Would you like me to assist you in your cleaning of the floors before we get a rush of students down here for food that is not yet prepared?"

"Ah... sure." They both took a brush and set about scrubbing the floors. Though he wasn't wearing any kneepads, he never once complained about the hard floors. Katherine's blush never disappeared as she worked alongside him. "So, what are we going to make for lunch anyway?"

"The only thing I could find that would satisfy everybody's appetites without any disagreements, didn't get damaged, and contains enough to feed everybody." He smiled at Kitty. "About six boxes of Kraft Dinner."

Despite herself, she stuck her tongue out. "It's the true staple of any stay at home kid's diet, but... six boxes of it? Do we have a bucket big enough to cook it in, or do we need to use the hot tub for it? And what about milk and stuff?" She thought of something else and fumbled with her brush. "What happens if we run out of food before they get back?"

"Then two of us will have to walk the several miles it is to the nearest grocery store and dip into our bank accounts." He paused, then added, "I vote you do it."

"Me? Why me?"

"Because the Russian dollar is down."

They went back to scrubbing the floors, and this time Peter started the conversation. "So Alex has gotten all the kids to do their homework? Why didn't we think of that for them to do, Katya? I could use this time to finish reading 'The Lord of the Rings' for English class. I realise, of course, that my English is not very good, and it may portray me to be slightly slow, but even I find the story enthralling. And you know me, I prefer art rather than literature."

"Speaking of art, have you worked on anything lately?"

"Nyet. I did a sketch of Rogue kissing Bobby, but that's the extent of what I've drawn lately." He smiled, but his eyes never left the floor. "Last night, however, I would have loved to have my sketchbook or my canvases."

"Ah," she smiled back at him. "I take you it you found something interesting to paint?"

The large Russian went as red as Kitty. "I do not think that interesting would be the correct term. Perhaps more... inspirational. I would have called it something along the lines of... 'Firelit Princess', or the like. How are you faring after such little sleep and so much caffeine? Myself, if I get any sleepier I will begin to dream as I walk. Ugh, why won't this spot come out?!"

"Because it's a knot in the wood." She thought Peter was absolutely adorable, but said nothing. Her blushing smile didn't even twitch, as the thought of laughing at his clumsy mistake had never even come close to crossing her mind. Katherine shrugged as she worked, only a small section of hallway left to clean. 

"My stomach was kind of hurting, but now it feels better," she lied. It wasn't a total falsehood, but it wasn't the truth either. Her aching stomach had stopped aching, but now it felt like a garden's worth of butterflies were trying to get out. Her nerves were so bad from Peter being so close that they had made her lose control of her powers once or twice; thankfully Peter either hadn't noticed or else he had been too nice to her to say anything.

Katherine's hand accidentally brushed his as she put the cleaning utensils away, and she felt like a shock and run up her arm. She almost dropped the bucket. 

He fiddled with his fingers, eyes as bright as his cheeks. "Katya?" he nervously said, feeling like a complete idiot. He was putting his... art on the line, and was terrified she'd refuse him. "If you feel up to it, tonight -or another night if you want to go to bed early tonight- do you think that you might mind... er, not mind, posing for me for a painting? It would take a long time, a week's worth of nights, so if you don't feel up to it, I completely understand because it's a lot of work and energy to put into something that you. . . ."

"Oh my!" Kitty explained as both her legs fell through the floor. Floating back up, she was redder than Peter. After taking a deep breath and hoping that he didn't notice, she nodded. Then she shook her head. Then she nodded again. She took another deep breath and hoped she hadn't -or wouldn't- make a fool of herself. "I'd love to."

"Really?" She nodded for a third time and he was so happy he could have kissed her. He felt a grinning idiot, and would have leaned over to give her a boyish peck on the cheek, but at the moment something crashed on the floor behind them.

They spun around and found Spyke lying sprawled out on the floor. "Hello, ah, guys? Haven't you ever heard of a wet floor sign?"

"I better go dump the water," Katherine said to excuse herself. She phased through the nearest wall before Peter could say anything else.

Peter hoisted Spyke back up his feet. "Come on, roller boy. You get to help make lunch with me."

He followed the Russian boy to the kitchen. "Really? It's going to be lunch time soon? Hey, what are we making?" He stepped into the kitchen, and noticed the yellow and blue boxes before he noticed that the cupboards much resembled Swiss cheese. Spyke groaned. "Oh, ya gotta be kidding me. . . ."


	3. Dusk

  
AN: Continue I will!!  ***giggles ecstatically***  I love them too, and am completely obsessed.  All I buy are Kitty and Peter comics, and you should have seen my when I got one of them kissing.  I'm seriously thinking of building a shrine of my fav comic and anime characters now….   I hope you all like this ultra-fluffy chapter! ^_^  Oh, and Kraft Dinner is really, really cheap cheese coated pasta.  
  


**Chapter Three: Dusk**

  
  


Somehow, the kids made it through the day by themselves. An absence of teachers, however unusual to most kids, was slowly growing more and more common. Some kids, like Kitty, wondered how it would affect their schoolwork. Other kids loved it, like Spyke, who had gotten caught for illegal skateboarding inside the house on more than one occasion. At such times the professors usually assigned enough homework or assignments for sanity to be lost so that the students would have something to do. 

Despite eager tensions and jumping at any crack or creak during the day, the older kids found things to occupy the time of the younger students, all the while wondering what they were going to do tomorrow if the teachers still had not returned. Everyone, with the exception of the older kids who were busy playing baby sitter, had completed their homework. They'd cleaned the whole house and repaired what they could. They'd found spaghetti for supper, and no one wanted pasta again after the lunch incident. They'd gone for walks, watched movies, and at seven o'clock, the kids were slowly beginning to nervously drift off to bed.

As they had expected, the students still had fears. No one wanted to go to bed, even though they were yawning and nodding off as they complained. Siren, the only one there beside Peter who had been shot, was probably one of the most frightened. Having been told about how Colossus and Kitty bravely sat up all night to protect them, she nervously tugged at his shirt. "Can you watch us again tonight, Petey?"

He wished he could. Oh, he wished he could, but he knew his body would kill him if he tried to stay up all night again. He and Katherine had finished up half a box of coffee trying to stay up this late alone. "Nyet, Siren. I can not. Even I am not strong enough to stay up for more than thirty six hours. Perhaps that means I should eat more vegetables?" He tickled her and she giggled.

Pietro and Alex, surprisingly, stepped up to the occasion. "No prob," Pietro said, looping an arm around Havok'c neck. "Alex and I will do it. Yeah, sure, we'll be dead tomorrow, but we got some sleep last night, so we can manage it. We can get our energy by polishing off that ice cream in the fridge or something."

Feeling much better knowing that somebody would be up watching after them, the children finally truly began their drifting off to bed. Peter smiled at Pietro. "Thank you, tovarish. After I get some sleep, I can keep watch tomorrow night, if the teachers still are not returned."

Only a short while after that, Katherine was searching the hallways trying to find the Russian. She wanted to know when they were going to do the painting she'd agreed to. It was getting late, and she wasn't even sure as to what to wear. Passing by the Professor's office, she heard noises inside, and literally stuck her head through the door to take a peek. 

"Peter?" she called out, seeing at who was standing in front of the desk. She phased through the door and he glanced up, startled and guilty looking. "Why are you going through the Professor's stuff?"

"Forgive me, Katya. Your curiosity, it seems, is contagious. That turned out more like a replacing of blame then a compliment I had meant. I apologize again." He waved some papers in the air. "I could not longer help myself, it seems. I though perhaps there might be some information in he regarding the downstairs or the room you and Pietro discovered, but there is very little. However," he said, beginning to clean up, "I did discover the purpose of the room. It is a giant machine to find mutants."

Katherine frowned. "A machine to find mutants? What's Professor Xavier doing with one of those?"

The smile he gave her was amused. "You are the smart one. Don't you know? This would be how the Professor found us all. Rogue, from the south, Bobby, from Boston, myself and Illyana, all the way from Russia. The scope of this machine must be astounding! So, what are you here for?"

"Oh, right. I was wondering when you wanted to start painting. I don't think it would work out well if you fell asleep at the wheel." She laughed nervously. Katherine felt like she was trying to pick out the colour of her prom dress, and at fourteen years of age, it made her feel ridiculous. "I also kind of wanted to know what you wanted me to wear. . . ."

After putting the papers back in their proper place, he reached out and tugged some of the strands of hair that had escaped her bun. "I have no eye for fashion, Katya. Wear whatever you so desire. All I ask is that you wear your hair down. I think you look much prettier that way." Peter's blush was so hot he felt like the sun. Had he just said that? 

Blushing at his compliment, she nodded, and began to hatch a rather devious plan. "Where and when do you want me to meet you?"

"Whenever you are ready... and could we maybe paint in the greenhouse? I'd maybe like a background of plants. I'll see you down there when you are ready."

Kitty smiled at him and gave him a thumbs up. "No problem. Now I have to go and try to work all the knots out of my hair. And try and find something nice to wear. I can't have you painting somebody wearing a Smurfs t-shirt and a pair of bell bottom jeans, now could I? Looks like I might go and try raiding Rogue's closet! Bye bye!" She phased through the floor and let out her breath when she was a level down. Oh, this was going to be interesting!

****

  
  


Her hair was, as she had assumed, a nightmare to get through. But, after much persistence and cursing, she managed to tame hair that had been knotted and leaf-ridden beyond recognition only twelve hours ago. Katherine was most apprehensive about what to wear. She'd considered -even looked- through Rogue's wardrobe, but Rogue was a few years older than she, and it would have been wrong to take her apparel without first asking. So Katherine was systematically going through her own closet, trying to find something nice to wear.

She wanted something that wouldn't be childish, but that wouldn't make her look like she was a child dressing up in her mother's clothes. Katherine wanted something that would make Peter's jaw drop, but in a nice way. She wanted something that would make her feel like a princess, but still let her feel comfortable. All that, she decided, could be summed up as something nice.

Finally, she found it. It was a dress her mother had sent over because she thought it would look nice on her. Katherine slipped it on, and new she'd found the right thing. The dress clung to her hips, and came down to a little above her knees, making her feel like Tinkerbell. It was in a light blue shade, and was so graceful it resembled water when she moved. Kitty twirled in front of her mirror just to watch it move. Though it accented her hourglass figure, it was loose in the front and back. To top it off, the collar was oriental style and it was sleeveless. 

With her Tinkerbell dress and her hair brushed until it shone, she considered putting on lip balm, but told herself she was crazy for even thinking it. She was going to help out Peter by posing for him for one of his paintings, she was not going for a modelling session.

'Oh, all right,' she admitted to herself. 'Yes, you do have other intentions, but the idea is your going to pose for a freaking painting! Now, hurry up and go downstairs before he thinks you fell asleep and forgot all about him!'

Katherine phased all the way downstairs to save time, and then phased all the way to the greenhouse to save on even more time. When she got there, she found Peter busy assembling all his paints, not aware of her presence. She gave tiny cough, and he whipped around, but even he thought the image before him had been worth a near heart attack. 

He almost lost the grip on the paint he held in his hand. "Katya. . . . I did not expect you so soon!" He paused and swallowed. "Er... you look. . . ." She twirled in front of him like a ballerina and he smiled. Go ahead, throw caution to the wind! Hey, best time to get a girl mad at you is when she can throw a pot at your head without getting in trouble from the teachers! "You look beautiful."

An itch he'd only ever felt for painting took over his fingers. He wanted to reach out and brush her hair, to play with it. When she shyly blushed, he wanted to kiss her forehead to make her look back up. Katherine was much too strong to look down at the ground whenever she received a compliment.

Shaking her long hair out of the way, Kitty looked around the green house and found that he'd lit a small batch of candles by one of the plants. She thought it was incredibly romantic, even if it was for the purpose of art rather than romance. Her eyes turned back to Peter. He looked so handsome, standing there. Why couldn't she say it? Kitty knew he'd dressed up, and just for her too. He wasn't wearing his normal painting shirt, the one that looked as though a rainbow had thrown up all over it. 

"Where do you want me to sit?" she asked. Katherine corrected herself. "Or stand. You know... you're the painter."

"You're just. . . ." he began, trailing off. He could admit to her that she was beautiful, but there was no way that he could tell her that she was his muse. How could he tell Kitty that any work he felt proud of was because he had been thinking of her when he had painted them? Peter noticed she was staring at him, obviously wondering what he had been planning on saying. He let the thought drop, dead on the floor. "I am, as you pointed out, the painter. Thank you for helping me out, Katya. Although I'm sure you will be sick of me thanking you when the picture is finished. I will have to make sure to give you thanks every night."

"Don't mention it, Piotr. It's no problem at all." She grinned when she saw that he'd been surprised when she had called him by his Russian name instead of his English one, but feigned innocence. "What?"

He shook his head. "Never mind. Please, sit by the candles. I find that the effect they create is so much prettier than indoor light, and the sun has already sunk below the horizon." Peter followed her to his seat and sank down to one knee in front of her. He noticed that her hazel eyes widened, but did not know why she looked she nervous or excited. 

When he took her hands she felt goose bumps and tingles race up her arms. She felt ice cold. He folded them in her lap and his fingers gently traced hers before the painter continued to arrange his subject. He rubbed her shoulders which he found amazingly tense, and corrected her posture, which was already close to perfect anyway. Katherine's cold skin began to feel incredibly warm. Her spine didn't seem to know this as shivers trailed up and down her spine. She didn't know what this feeling was supposed to be called, but she liked it. 

Satisfied, he stood up a bit and cupped her face in his large hands. She really did look beautiful. He angled her neck downwards, their eyes locked. Her skin was so nice and soft. Letting her go, he pretended to arrange her hair just so that he could run his fingers through it. He felt her shiver, and continued into his body. It would be. . . .

It would just be so easy to lean down and kiss him, wouldn't it? She didn't need the pretty dress or some sort of plan, she just needed to lean down and kiss him. She could reach out and brush his hair, and then he'd briefly have to hold her hand again as he corrected his model. It would be so easy!

Kitty was going to go for it, but then the truth dawned on her. Everything would change after that. She couldn't be trusted to be his model anymore because he would think she was always trying to make out with him when he held her hand or something. If he didn't reciprocate her feelings, then every time she did something nice for him he'd think she was trying to get her to like him. 

He stopped playing with her hair. "No smile, Katya? Now who would believe that my subject was a princess if she didn't smile? Nyet, Katya, not a grin. A pretty smile for a princess or a sprite. That's the one. Now, hold that pose as long as you can."

Peter smiled at her over the canvas. "And stop looking at me. Look down at the ground as your subjects are below waving to someone they love unconditionally."

While he painted the feeling never go away. Kitty was the best model Peter had ever had- though not that he had found many of them. Afterwards she wondered if she had ever even blinked. All she knew for certain was that he fingers were trembling and she hoped he didn't notice, and that whenever he glanced up at her, she could almost feel his eyes on her. She even knew that he was smiling when he did so, even though he was trying to be critical about his work.

The hardest part was trying to keep the proper smile. Every time he looked up, she wanted to smile more. He just had that effect on her. Whenever she thought about how he had called her beautiful, his fingers running over hers, his hands on her cheek, rubbing her shoulders... she wanted to break into a giggle-fit and skip around the greenhouse like a dryad in Bacchus' processional. The worst when she thought of his fingers trailing through her hair. Why couldn't he do that again? Why couldn't he do that more often? 

Finally, after what seemed like a bittersweet eternity, Peter put down the paintbrush. "There. I am done for the night. If I do anymore, I will collapse into my own artwork, and my subject will fall asleep as well."

Katherine let out the yawn she had been holding for what turned out to be an hour and a half. She slowly climbed off the bench she had been sitting on. Kitty stretched, and was immediately back to her usual self. The last time she had been so quiet she had. . . Bad thought. "Did you know that bench gets really hard after the first forty-five minutes?"

"Nyet. Perhaps the next time we do it, we will get you a pillow to sit on. Would you like to see what I have done so far? It is not much, but it is a good start. Just be careful. Most of the paint is still wet."

She walked over to stand beside him and looked at the panting. No, it really didn't seem like much. Just the basic shapes, really. But she could make out the different plants she had been sitting in front of, her hair, her face. He'd created a base to start upon, and next time he would add unto that layer. She rubbed his arm encouragingly. "I'm no art critic, and I have no idea how to paint, but if you paint it I know that it will turn out wonderful."

He appeared a bit surprised, like a child who held up a picture of a dog and gets told they drew a wonderful giraffe. Kitty grinned and rubbed her cheek against the arm she now held. "I'm joking, Peter. I think it already looks like it could hang in the louvre." Kitty glanced between the candles and the painting. "So is this supposed to be a recreation of the wonderful inspiration you found last night?"

"Yes. I will not be as close to the real thing, but thanks to your help, it will be amazingly similar."

Katherine looked at with mischief in her eyes. "Want to see what I learned last night?" She considered that statement and corrected herself. "Actually, it was this morning."

"Certainly," he answered without hesitation as to what she would be doing. In a flash he saw that the ground was several inches further away than it had been a moment ago. As if on instinct, he wrapped his arms around Katherine, trying to keep her safe from a nonexistent threat. He glanced at Kitty questioningly, held safely in his arms. "You can float other people?"

"Yup!" she cheerfully replied. She resisted the urge to lay her head against his chest. "Nifty, isn't it? I can't do it for very long, though. I need to practice it. Still. . . ." She let the though hang in the air as she lowered them back down. Their feet solid and on solid ground again, she was pleasantly relieve when he didn't immediately let her go. He was so nice and warm.

They stared at each other, smiling, both wondering what the other was thinking. Was she angered that he hadn't let go? Was he holding her because he wanted to or for some other reason? Katherine giggled, but it wasn't actually because she was being held by her secret crush, but because Pietro had been right. She was getting a cramp from staring up at him for so very long.

As if guided by some cosmic force, they both started leaning forward at the same time. Surprised, they stopped. Katherine felt her heart try to leap out of her chest, her hazel eyes drowning with hope. "Were you going to try and kiss me?" she asked in a gentle whisper.

Peter hesitated for a moment and then decided to bite the bullet before they were interrupted, as peace never lasted long in the Xavier mansion. And, as he had noticed, she had been leaning forward as well. "Yes, I was. Were you going to try and kiss me?"

She nodded. "Yes, I was. Well, as long as we're all clear then."

Wrapping her arms around his neck, she was all but lifted off the ground as his arms tightened to hold her closer to his body. His fingertips played with her hair as they kissed. Waves of pleasure rolled up and down her back. So this was what kissing was like! She could feel the heat from his cheeks. All she could smell was Peter; his paint supplies, his shampoo, his cologne. His lips were so warm as they pressed against hers. Katherine knew what she had to do from watching too many Audrey Hepburn movies. She moved her lips against his and he copied her example. She felt like her body was on overload, like she could just melt right through him. . . .

Or phase.

"Are you two done in here yet? You guys should get going to bed! It's almost ten o'clock and. . . ." The door slammed open. With only a few candles to light Kitty's face and a small lamp over the easel to give Colossus some light to work by, the hallway was more blinding than the blue and white tunnel system ten feet below where Katherine and Peter now stood. Blinded, they shielded their eyes and tried to hide their blush.

Pietro flicked on the lights in the greenhouse, blinding them even further. He put his hands on his hips and tapped his foot. "Well, well, well? What do we have here? Plants, candles, paints, and two blushing brides instead of one. Trying to get in a quick peck before bed time, were we folks?"

"Does it look like we were kissing?" she angrily demanded. Kitty copied his stance, and pulled it off with much more success. She pointed to the ground to show that she was hovering an inch or two over it. "When here I was phasing through him on my way out. Really you shouldn't jump to conclusions so easily. Assuming only makes an ass out of you and me, Pietro."

Peter jumped into the conversation, picking up on her ploy. "Don't you have better manners than that? I never realized that you could actually open your mouth and insert your foot in the same amount of time it takes for you to make a fool out of yourself. But while you are here you might as well help me to clean up. My paintbrushes need cleaning. If you can clean them as fast as you can slander Katya and I you can be done by the time I put the rest of this away." He handed the painting to Kitty, telling her to be careful. "Since my bedroom is on the way to yours, do you think you could maybe put this away for me?"

She had to solidify herself to take it, not wanting to take any chances with something she and Peter shared in common. Their fingers briefly touched and they both looked uncomfortable, but pleased. Pietro noticed, but thought it was just being Kitty and Peter being... well... Kitty and Peter.

Before she left, he whispered something to her very slowly in Russian. She smiled and nodded, half understanding. Pietro also noticed this, and felt jilted. When Kitty phased through the wall, he immediately began to pester Peter. "What was the all about, big guy? C'mon! You can tell me. It's just us guys here, right?" He remained silent. "Peter? Aw, come on, Peter! I don't speak Russian!"

He grinned. "That's alright, Pietro. Neither does she."

Upstairs, Kitty delicately placed the canvas on the spare easel. The only English word he'd said was desk. On the piece of furniture Peter had mentioned she found an English to Russian and vice versa dictionary. It took a moment to translate what he had said (after deciding that 'I love your flounder and cheese' made no sense whatsoever) Katherine was so happy she couldn't help but float to her bedroom where she scribbled it down to always remember it.

'See you tomorrow, love.' 


	4. Lessons

AN: No notes today, except for: YEAH!!!! I HAVE THE NET AGAIN!!!!!! Enjoy, and please, drop me a line. They really brighten my day! ^_^

  
  


Chapter Four: Lessons

  
  


Katherine awoke the next morning with a smile on her face. She had slept soundly, dreaming of more nights with candlelight and the smell of acrylic paints in the air. She didn't want to get up in case it was all a fantasy. What if she climbed out of bed and discovered none of it had really happened? That Peter had never kissed her?

Pulling the covers over her head, she tried to go back to sleep, but her stomach woke her up. If she was hungry and awake, other people in the house would be too, and they needed to find something for breakfast. She climbed out of bed and gathered her washroom things. If she was going to get up early, she should also have a shower before everyone else was fighting over the hot water.

Stepping into the hallway, a door behind hers closed, and she turned around to find Peter also holding his towel. He was also dressed solely in his boxers. She was dressed solely in a long t-shirt. Both of them began to go red. Katherine broke it first by smiling at him. "Good morning!" she perkily chirped. 

"Good morning, Katya. Did you sleep well last night?"

"Better than I did last night. Say, Peter, since you cleaned up the kitchen, do you have any idea about what might be there to eat for breakfast? I don't think we can have Kraft Dinner, or pasta in general, again without some sort of retaliation." 

The conversations Peter and Kitty usually had were friendly ones, filled with jokes and were always quick, upbeat. This one seemed lethargic, and it wasn't because of the early hour. After catching Peter in his boxers, anyone would be wide awake in the blink of an eye. As for the large Russian, Katherine in a shirt which only came down to mid thigh was nothing to sneeze at either. Realizing they were staring at each other, they turned away and Peter tried to answer her question.

"I cannot think of anything for breakfast. Please, Katya, feel free to use the washroom first. I shall go downstairs and relieve Pietro and Alex of night watch. Perhaps the Professors have phoned while we were out. If so, we can ask them to bring us many, many boxes of cereal." He opened the washroom door for her, and ran a hand through his thick hair. "Um... I was hoping that, since we both volunteered for night watch tonight, we could maybe have another painting session?"

Feeling a little mischievous, she smiled slyly. "I don't know, Piotr. There's a really interesting show on robots and computer programming on The Learning Channel tonight. Three hours of nothing but information on computers. It's just up my alley."

His face fell, and Katherine felt a little guilty for teasing him. She gave him a gently punch in the arm. "I was only pulling your leg, guy. Computers over helping you with your art? It'd be cruel to do anything else. Besides. . . ." Her grin stretched further than it had been before, and she leaned up on her tip toes to throw her arms around his neck. "Tonight Pietro will be fast asleep. There won't be anybody to interrupt us."

"First we need to figure out a way to stay up all night, Katya. I fear Piero and Alex have eaten all the caffeine in the house."

"Don't you mean drunk all the coffee?"

"Nyet. Eaten." He grinned. "Then again, I also believe that if they could figure out a way, they would inject themselves with caffeine. One would believe Pietro would not need such sugar and stimulants to keep him going. Erm, Katya, does this mean you did not mind what happened last night in the greenhouse? That is, I mean to say, that you enjoyed it?"

She felt her face go beet red. Feeling flustered and caught off guard, she had to focus to put a sentence together. Unable to come up with anything to say, she merely nodded, and decided to bite the bullet. If Katherine had learned anything from the past day, she'd learned to take chances. If he was asking her that and not rejecting her flirtations, then obviously he had also willingly crossed their previous lines of friendship. 

Without warning or hesitation, she jumped up on him, legs around his waist. As if afraid she was going to fall, he put his arms around her and held her close against him. Turning the tables and catching him off guard, she gave him a long kiss on the mouth when he went to ask her what was going on. Startled but pleased all at the same time, he kissed her in return and ran his large hand up her back to toy with the ends of her hair.

Katherine stopped when she began to feel slightly self-conscious. She smiled up at him, still a hair or two shorter than him, even in this position. "It was my first kiss. What teenage girl doesn't find their first kiss enjoyable? That was my second kiss, and it was just as enjoyable. If you keep this up, Piotr Niko-whatever Rasputin, you might just get a perfect record."

He laughed when she stumbled over his middle name. His toying fingers ruffled her curly hair affectionately. "Your Russian needs some work, Katya. I bet you don't even know what I said to you last night."

"But I do. I looked it up in a dictionary." Katherine giggled, blushing slightly when she did so. "It was really cute. Thank you."

"Thank you for what?"

Shrugging, she buried her face in his chest and sighed heavily. He still smelled like acrylic paints from last night. She closed her eyes and found that she was so comfortable she could almost fall back asleep. Peter was so nice and warm. 

"You should get off me," he said, suddenly. Katherine jerked her head up, thinking that he was making some type of comment that she had put on weight. She found that he was staring at her with a concerned face, melancholy in origin. His coal-coloured bangs fell into his baby blue eyes, obscuring his vision. She tenderly bushed them out of his view, but he shook her hand away, dishevelling his boyish hair even more.

"How old are you?"

Kitty thought it was some type of trick question. She knew Peter knew her age full well. Nonetheless, she answered his question. "I'm almost fifteen. You know that as well as I. Why? What has my age got to do with anything?"

"I am how old, Katya? Yes, nineteen. Tovarisch, there are five years between us. I will be leaving for college next year, providing I get in. Meanwhile, you will just be in the middle of junior high. I care very much about you, Katya, very much, but there is still a part of my which says all this is wrong. You are so much younger than I!"

"Five years is not a long time!" she protested.

"Yes, Katya, it is. I feel as if I'm taking advantage of you." He set her on the ground, his hands stroking her hair and tracing the outline of her face with his thumb. His voice was sad, and his eyes looked lost, as if he suddenly had reached his dreams and now he had been forced to give them away. "You're such an innocent person, so youthful and happy, and I worry that I'm taking advantage of that."

She felt torn. Part of Kitty was furious, but the other part wanted to start crying. Because she couldn't choose which emotion was right, she exerted both. Tears slipped down her face, but her cheeks were red with anger. "Colossus, if you felt that way, why didn't you say something last night? Why did you try and kiss me? If you feel this way, then why did everything that happened last night, happen? You could have stopped it! But no, you let me kiss you, and you kissed me back! Well, don't think that anything you can say now can change anything! The truth is I've had a crush on you since I met you, and you've had a crush on me for just as long!"

He stopped touching her, frozen by what she had said. With the aggressiveness in her voice, her statement had sounded like an accusation.

Her hazel eyes closed as she tried to rub them dry, and her smile had vanished. "C'mon, Peter. Admit it," she sniffled. "You've had a crush on me since you met me. That's why you tried to kiss me. That's why you kissed me back just now. That's what you art tells me. That's why you asked me for a model, not somebody prettier than me, like Professor Monro. That's why there's a framed picture of me on your night stand. I saw it last night when I put your painting away." She stopped rubbing away her eyes to smile up at him, but it was weak. "What does age matter to people like us?"

"'People like us' as in mutants?"

"People like us as in people who l...like each other." She had managed to bit her tongue before saying the wrong 'l' word. She crossed her fingers behind her back, hoping he wouldn't notice. Terrified that he would still feel the same way, she brushed by him and slammed the washroom door shut, leaving him stranded outside and feeling utterly confused.

Leaning against the door, he pressed a hand against it, wishing he had her power to walk through closed doors. Now he'd really screwed things up. He never should have opened his big mouth. Now she was made at him. But her stutter had given him a ray of hope. Maybe age really didn't matter, if it came down to love. 

"I love you, Katya," he muttered before walking away.

Inside the washroom, her tears started flowing again. Ear pressed against the door, she wished she could tell him. "I love you too, Peter."

  
  


[After a quick shower....]

  
  


Alex and Pietro drifted upstairs, leaning on each other so they didn't slip and fall down a flight of steps. The first groaned. "I can't believe it. They were alone in the hallway, and they don't do anything! They get interrupted kissing, and when they have the perfect chance to ask each other out or kiss without being yelled at by my brother, they get into an argument instead. It's ridiculous!"

"Yeah. And the worst part is, without the teachers, they can start making-out and not worry about getting into trouble. Really, like they could have gropefest 2003, and the only people who would see would be us!"

"Yeah. And we don't really care. Knowing what to do when making out would only come in handy when we get into the dating scene." Alex yawned and slid into his bedroom. "See you in a couple of hours."

Before both of them were in bed, they heard Russian expletives drifting up from the kitchen. It seemed Colossus had found out they had eaten anything with the slightest drop of sugar and or caffeine.

After everyone had eaten pancakes for breakfast, Peter declared he had a surprise for them, and led them to the greenhouse. There, the students found a collection of white paper and craft supplies, ranging from markers to paints. Though she hadn't said a word to him during breakfast -but had been caught staring at him, and vice versa- she was beaming at his secret and gave him a bear hug. "How in the world did you do this?"

"Magic," he replied. His voice was cool, but he was smiling, if only a little smile. Uncapping a marker, he detached himself from Katherine to stand in front of the only easel in the room. He coughed to get everyone's attention. "While creativity and thinking might be encouraged at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, we all know that the arts and crafts section of the curriculum is somewhat... non-existent. Music, sure. But not arts and crafts. And since many of you may know, I want to one day teach art. Please, humour me this once, and enjoy yourselves."

Siren clapped her hands, delighted. Illyana joined in. Spyke looked a little unconvinced, like he was too old to be drawing. "I don't know, man. Unless it involves a can of spray paint or a video camera, I don't think I can do anything. Not all of us have your talents, Colossus."

"Nyet. But that doesn't mean you don't have talents of your own. We are not judging here, we're only having fun. It's this or we could clean the house again." Everybody groaned at the suggestion, making Peter smile. "Besides, Spyke, art comes in many styles. Like individuals. Allow me to demonstrate. First, there is the comically direct pictures, such as those in ads for children." On the white easel, he drew an unhappy face with a bubble coming out of it that read 'Sorry'.

He erased it. "Of course, if you're a little more direct, and a little more direct, you could try something more like this." He quickly sketched a man facing away from the crowd, wrapped in a towel which was starting to slip. The caption read: I'm an *ss. The student body laughed at this, even the people who didn't understand the words, they were just laughing because the man would be embarrassed when he found out what he had done. Children and potty humour. Go figure.

Katherine knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was trying to apologize. It was so adorably cute! And just like him; trying to apologize through art because he wasn't good with words. Although his drawing would suggest otherwise. 

Peter erased the *ss picture, speaking as he sketched again. "Of course, if you like making fun of people, you can always try charac... pictures that make fun of people. Just for the record, I'd prefer not to see you draw these pictures. They can be a little mean sometimes. How would you feel if you were me and somebody drew this of you?" His latest sketch showed Peter grovelling, begging, and crying at the feet of a very pissed off cigar-smoking Wolverine, who was also petting a cat he held in his arms. 

Giggling, Katherine knew she was the only one in the crowd who actually understand the picture. Kitty; cat. Peter was grovelling for mercy from Wolverine because he had kissed her. It was the best picture yet that day, but Kitty had forgiven him from the unhappy face. She twirled a strand of her hair around her fingers absentmindedly. "And if you were slightly more romantic? Or if your apologetic paintings didn't work?"

Quick as a rabbit, he erased the board and drew a picture of a bouquet of flowers. She arched an eyebrow when she saw it, and he smiled sheepishly, gesturing to the painting. "Because the Russian dollar is down," he told her, and only her.

While Peter drew another picture, which the masses had rapidly asked him to do, Katherine sketched a picture of her own. It was a cat, licking the cheek of a faceless man with metal-looking skin. The caption read: I guess I can forgive you.

When he saw it, he grinned and crossed the room to hug her. They stared deep into each other's eyes and knew that something so trivial would never get in their way again. The two were about to kiss, until they remembered that half a dozen pairs of eyes were looking at them. They jumped apart, and immediately began to hustle the younger kids into the art supplies, hoping that arts and crafts would be able to hold their interests for at least the morning. Then they would be faced with what to do in the afternoon, to keep away questions about where their teachers were from both the minds of the fellow students and their own minds. 

During the crafts session, Katherine was hit by a rogue airplane. She looked around to see if she could spot the culprit who had thrown it, and noticed Peter's red face. Katherine opened it up and found a picture of Colossus offering her flowers. "When school's on, want to have a study date together? You can help me with my mathematics."

Rather than be so childish as to throw a paper airplane back at the Russian, she walked over, her answer balled into a ball, and stuffed it down the front of his shirt. Her piece of paper didn't have a picture, only three letters. And three more exclamation points.

  
  


[When lunch was finished. . . .]

Pietro and Alex stumbled out of bed and downstairs to find Spyke finishing up the last of the dishes. Peitro blinked. "Spyke doing chores? I never thought I'd see the day! What happened that made you get the dish pan hands?"

The boy holding the sponge grimaced. "Peter caught me skateboarding in the house again. So I got stuck with dish duty. It's not that bad, I suppose. Professor X always threatened me with a week's worth of toilet duty if I ever got caught. Everybody's gone on a nature hike except for us three. Man, you should have seen it! Kitty and Peter have been making googily eyes about it. Oh, hey, and there's some stuff to make sandwiches in the fridge. If ya ask me, I think they really went on the "hike" to go to the store and buy some more food."

"More than likely," Alex agreed when the only thing he could find to put on his bread was a spoonful of humus. "We don't even have stuff to make p.b. and j? Aw man, this sucks." He grumpily took a bite of his sandwich, or two pieces of bread with a spoonful of humus in between. "So, they're still making eyes, huh? Yesterday Pietro caught them kissing in the green house. Today we found them kissing in the hallway. What does it take to get those two together?"

Spyke stared at them like they were crazy. "Man, you two must be bored stiff! You're matchmaking? That's disgusting! It's all frilly and flowery and. . . ."

"But think of the possibilities!" Pietro pointed out. He wrapped an arm around Spyke's shoulder and lowered his voice. "Listen, right now Colossus is in control of the school because of seniority. If we can get the two of them together, they'll take advantage of house without parents. They'll be so busy making out that they won't be around to tell us guys what to do or what not to do."

Ororo's nephew slowly began to grin. "I like the way you think, gentlemen. I like the way you think very much." 


	5. Names

AN: Meet the last chapter of the story. Yes, I have left lots a lot of things open, but use your imagination! This is your story too, people! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading my first X-Man fanfic as much as I enjoyed writing it! ^_^ Long live Kitty and Colossus fics! ^_^V

Chapter Five: Night  
  
  


"Allow me to help you with that, Katya," Peter said as he took a box of cookies from her and hid them in the topmost shelf, directly at the back where only the tall could reach them. He smiled down at her, feeling his job had been well-done. "Now only we know where they are. We can eat the bag tonight when we stay up all night. Again."

She crossed her arms and pouted. "I could have done that you know. I could have floated up there," she protested, feeling like he was picking on her for being short.

Peter seemed to read her mind. He scooped her up in his arms and held her like he was going to carry her away. Which Peter often considered doing. She was just so tiny compared to him! He wanted to carry her away and. . . .

She suddenly clutched her head, tears running down her cheeks from pain. He was confused, and then he felt it too, falling to his knees. His mind felt like it was trying to explode. He couldn't seem to concentrate. There were flashes of white running across his vision.

Katherine curled up beside him, clinging to his shirt and biting her lips to keep from screaming out loud. Inside her mind, she was begging for whatever had caused this to stop. Dimly, through the screech that rang through her ears, she could hear the screams of the other students, but she could do nothing to stop it. Whatever this it was. . . .

Taking a deep breath, her choked words finally escaped her trembling mouth. "P.... Peter? What's happening to us?"

He couldn't seem to understand how she was talking. He wrapped his arms around her and held her against his chest, as if she were a teddy-bear that would lessen the pain he had, or vice versa. He wanted to protect his Katya. And his Snowflake. But there was no way he would be able to get to his little sister now. He knew he wouldn't be able to get his legs to work.

"Illyana. . . ."

Kitty understood. Her fingers were shaking, the sobs coming freely. The pain intensified as she tried to concentrate on using her powers. But she didn't know why. Why?

Slowly but steadily, they began to float. They managed to raise an inch before the pain grew too intense and Katherine lost control of her powers. They crashed back to the kitchen floor. Compared to the pain in her mind, the bruises they received from landing were nothing. "I... I'm sorry. I tied. . . ."

"I know," Peter said.

Katherine pressed her lips to his, too weak make it a real kiss. "In case we don't. . . ."

His tears seemed to vanish as he opened his eyes to look at her. "I know." Peter began to pray the pain would end soon, if only if it ended in death.

Then, abruptly, it did.

They remained curled up on the floor, breathing heavily. Nothing made sense. The world was shaking around them. Colossus was the first to move, standing up on shakily legs. He had to hold himself up by leaning on the wall. His legs were so weak he could only shuffle. "We need to go check on the others."

She began to follow him. Even in her weakened state, she still had the lightness of a dancer's footsteps and that same gracefulness. Katherine moved slower than the large Russian, taking two steps for every one of his feeble ones. "What was that, Peter? Was it some type of a weapon? A... I don't know why, but I thought I heard a voice. It asked me to show myself. It called me a friend?" Kitty placed her hand on his arm to stop him. Her hazel eyes were serious, but her face made her look vulnerable. "It was a mutant, wasn't it?"

Peter's blue eyes looked sad. Had Katherine not known any better, she would have guessed his best friend had just died. He nodded. "Da, Katya. It was the Professor."

****

After everyone had been calmed down and had been reassured that the occurrence would not repeat, all the students headed to bed, tired by the experience. Alex and Quicksilver were so tired they had slept through the whole scenario. Peter and Katherine, who had checked on all their fellow students, were practically asleep already as they walked to their bedrooms.

"Goodnight, Katya," Peter said, shutting the door without looking behind him. As if in a trance, Katherine didn't even blink as she phased through the door, following him into his bedroom. Peter collapsed on the bed, and she followed suit, curling her body around his as she put her head on his chest. 

Barely twenty minutes later, they both awoke. Peter opened his eyes first, and found Katherine still asleep beside him. She looked so innocent that way. His hand itched to paint her. Katherine Pryde was, without a doubt, his muse. And yet he thought he might still be asleep. How many times had he dreamt of cuddling with her? Of falling asleep while watching a movie with her so that he could wake up and carry her off to her bed?

Those are dangerous thoughts, Peter, a voice said in his mind. 

The voice was crisp and cool. The large Russian could almost detect a layer of pain behind the voice. The owner had been hurt recently, and was tired. The Professor!

Lifting her head, Katherine knotted her eyebrows, wondering why Peter was staring ahead blandly. Then, he spoke out loud, and she knew. The students were so used to communicating out loud that even when talking with someone who was telepathic, they still used verbal communication. It was a habit many of them would have to break if they wanted to become a member of the X-Men.

Professor? Katherine thought, forcing herself not to speak with her voice. Professor, where are you?

"You are injured, tired," Peter said. She realized he was speaking out loud not out of habit, but so that she knew what was being said. His blue eyes darkened, even though the Professor would be able to see the disapproving expression. "If you are injured, you should not speak to us over a great distance. It is too much of a strain for you. You should be resting."

She elbowed him. "Professor Xavier, are the other professors there with you? Is everyone safe?"

He didn't answer at first. She knew he was contemplating. Those are questions that should be answered person to person, in a group. This information is not mine to dispense to whomsoever I please. Everybody needs to know the events that have occurred over the past few days, not just my eldest students.

No, I need your help. I need... I need your powers, Katherine. The man who led the attack against the school was Stryker. A political man. He has great influence over the President. It is time we talked to the President, Kitty.. Talked to him as mutants. But for that, we need proof. I need you to get that proof.

"M... Me?" she stuttered. Katherine felt like the most important person in the world at that moment.

Peter nodded understandingly. "You are the logical person to ask, Katya. You can walk through walls. No security system can catch you, unless someone sees you. Quick in, quick out, and what's done is done. Nobody would be the wiser to what had passed."

"But that's stealing!" she protested. "I want to become a student so that I can use my powers for good, not for stealing! I'm not a thief!"

I understand. This is a moral dilemma that only you can answer, Katherine. But know that whatever you decide to do, I will be behind you. I will support you both as a teacher and as a friend, Kitty. But please try to understand it from my side. We cannot accuse Stryker of his crimes without proof, Katherine, and we cannot leave its collection to the authorities. They have been corrupted, like the military. The proof would disappear, and people may die as a result. Kitty, Stryker kidnapped me so that he could use my powers to destroy mutants everywhere. I know you have felt the affects of my actions, and for that I apologize. You have no idea how sorry I am.

Except she did. Both she and Colossus could hear the sadness in his voice. They were his students, his hope for the future: he never wanted to cause harm to any of them. It made them realize exactly how bad things must have been for the X-Men. For the Professor's feelings to leak through his telepathy like that. . . . 

Katherine sat up on the bed. She stormed to her bedroom, Peter hot on her heels. Her stride was purposeful, her brown eyes filled with only anger and determination. Sitting at her dresser, she put a hair elastic in her mouth and began to brush back her hair, pulling it in a ponytail to keep it out of her face. What do I have to do, Professor?

Images and instructions filled her mind, being drawn directly from Xavier's mind. She knew where she had to go, what she was looking for. Anything the Professor knew about the building was suddenly part of her mind, too. And she knew she couldn't do it alone.

"Not by myself," she told him. "Never by myself. I could never do it all alone, Professor! I need help." She glanced at Peter, blocking the doorway. "I need his help. We make a good time, Peter and I. I need someone to watch my back while I'm hacking into the computers, Professor. Let Peter come with me, please!"

I never said he couldn't.

Katherine could have cheered in response.

But how will you get into the building, Peter? Even I have my limits. 

Peter walked closer to Katherine, giving her a gentle kiss. He hugged her as he answered the Professor. "Katherine can get me into the building, Professor. She has the ability to transport other people with her, as long as there is physical contact."

Really? This will need further developing at a later date. Now, the rules. Do not kill. Do not be seen. Do not take anything except for the needed files. Do not use your powers recklessly. And remember everything I have taught you. Now, I will let you two in on a secret. Katherine, you are still very young, and I hope I am not wrong in hoping you are mature enough for this responsibility. 

Downstairs, there is a. . . . 

He was offering her such a great chance that she had to be honest. "We already know, Professor. That's what the people who attacked us were after. The computer system named Cerebro. I had to float down there to escape them, and Pietro and I had to go down there to make sure there weren't anymore guards anywhere." She lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry for disobeying your orders."

Under the circumstances, child, you are forgiven a dozen times over. But I know what you don't about what's downstairs. Take the elevator. . . .

****

The two teenagers did as Professor Xavier had told them. They began heading to where Katherine had seen the lab, but stopped. They turned to face the wall. Buried in the cracks between the wall, and nearly invisible to the naked eye, was a tiny switch. Katherine had to flip it, because Peter's fingers were to large. 

The door swung open, revealing two new suits. The larger one was made of black leather, accented by red and yellow lines. The second was also black, with accents of blue. The second one had a small mask, feminine in design. 

"Not much to look at, are they?" she asked. She pulled out the smaller suit. "At least Superman had some colour in his super-hero costume. What do we get? Wannabee Batman outfits. Still... it could have been pink."

He grinned at her. "I like how our costumes get to hang beside each other. Go on, ladies first. I wanna see what you look like in fitted black leather."

"Peter Rasputin, I swear the American boys are turning your usual back-water, Russian, honest little boy personality into a pervert," she teased. She went to change, but stopped, and came back blushing.

Leaning against him, she couldn't help but smile when she looked deep into his blue eyes. "I'm just doing the now in case I don't have the courage to do it later." She kissed him gently on the lips, his mouth soft against hers. Her skin began to grow chilled as her cheeks heated up. His strong arms lifted her off the ground, pulling her close as he deepened the kiss, showing her all the emotion he had always tried to convey in his paintings.

She pulled away when she felt dizzy. Katherine took a deep breath, trying to get oxygen into her body. She kissed him again, little kisses that landed like feathers on his mouth, cheeks, and chin. "Good luck, Peter."

"The same goes to you, Katya."

Quickly changing into the outfit, the struggle she had to put up to get into the skin tight leather suit and mask was well worth it when she saw Peter's face. His jaw dropped and he stared at her from head to foot. He was completely speechless. Katherine grinned. She felt like she was drop-dead gorgeous, even though half her phase was covered. Under her mask, she blushed, and then she leapt into his arms, kissing him again. He had obviously managed to get into his suit easier than she had hers, because he was already changed. While they kissed, she phased them through the air unto the floor below them. Their teachers were going to come and pick them up in the jet.

"You look amazing!" he told her, unable to keep his eyes anywhere else but on her.

"So do you." She couldn't get over how good he looked in his uniform. His hair, if possible, was even darker than his suit. She brushed it out of the way of his eyes. His muscles showed through his outfit, and Kitty wanted nothing more than to have him wrap his large arms around her and tell her that she didn't need to break into a building.

But the choice had been hers, and now her bed was made.

The wind blew their hair on end as it began to land, eclipsing the sky with its massive shape. Peter looked at Kitty. "I have a codename already. Colossus. Professor Summers is Cyclops, Professor Munro is Storm... you should have one too. But is calling you Kitty really such a nickname, or would you prefer to be called something else?"

She thought back to the events of the past few days. She was not the same person she had been three days ago. She was no longer a kitten in many ways. She was a cat. A cat who was deeply in love, and who could turn invisible in the darkness. Katherine smiled.

"I'm Shadowcat."


End file.
